What's really behind Google's crazy offices?

1:50 AM,
Mar. 20, 2013

Written by

Mitch Albom

What should your office look like? If you answered "a desk, a chair and a phone," you are either A) older than 30, B) not a Google employee, or C) both.

Google offices redefine the workplace. I first saw them a few years ago in Palo Alto, Calif. I was blown away. There were beanbag chairs and food stations and salad bars and facilities where you could do your laundry (or where someone did it for you). There were couches strewn everywhere and just as many places to plop as to type. The whole environment looked like a college cafeteria/student center/library, blown together in a color-coordinated ...